Thursday, April 23, 2009

Luke 3:1-14. Bear fruits worthy of repentance."Easter is incarnational. We are to be the life of Christ risen today. Star Wars creator George Lucas spoke at the 2005 Star Wars convention in Indianapolis. On a whim, I went on a wintry weekday expecting to get right in. The line of excited fans stretched six blocks. One couple had driven all night from New York. Many were in full costume. They were caught up in a different, compelling world. Not content merely to see a movie, they wanted to make that vision come alive.

We are like that. God's Easter vision of our world and us risen as a new creation is something we are to live. Incarnating Easter into our daily lives, we are invited to create not an imaginary, parallel universe, but a very real, God-filled world.

If we were as excited about our salvation as fans are about Star Wars, what a force we would be: repudiating violence with peacemaking, vanquishing retribution through reconciliation, conquering hatred with love.

God's salvific, new world is here. We are to live it and make it our own-even as Christ has made us his own. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Incarnate Easter today. " From Forward Movement Day by Day

Of course, if you added up the numbers of Christians in the world, Star Wars fans would fade into insignificance. There are more Christians than any other religious group. That isn’t the problem. But the author’s point is well taken. If we could only engender the enthusiasm that some groups show, a sense of immediacy, a sense of urgency, a feeling that what we do makes a difference. In our own lives but to the world as well. We fail to realize that our actions have an impact on the world and that what we do, or don’t do, makes an impact.

Nearly all the major religions have some version of "the golden rule." Do unto others what you would have them do unto to you. A "Declaration Toward a Global Ethic" was signed by 143 leaders from different faith traditions at the Parliament of the World's Religions held in 1993. From the Baha'i Faith "Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not" to Confucius "Never impose on others what you would not chhose for yourself" to Muhammad "That which you want for yourself, seek for mankind" to Judaism "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow (The Sage Hillel) to the most recent scientific research that "the Golden Rule may be stated and rooted in terms of neuroscientific and neuroethical principle." (Above can be found on Wikipedia under the Ethic of Reciprocity.)

We often feel insignificant. And as groups of people we feel insignificant. But as some people have come to realize we are all connected and what we do or don't do makes a difference. What we do collectively makes an enormous impact on our environment. So let us make a concerted effort to be conscious and live our lives accordingly.

About Me

Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother! Retired Social Worker and Addictions Counselor. Member of the Episcopal Church. Daughter, Wife, Mother, and Grandmother of career military personnel. Needless to say I have traveled a lot! And still do to visit my family.